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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Nigeria: Boko Haram Declares War

Few seem convinced by President Goodluck Jonathan's assurances that the security situation is under control following the bombing on 16 June of Louis Edet House, the national police headquarters in Abuja. It killed at least two people and wounded seven. Agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation arrived to help investigate claims of international terrorist links.

Initially, the bombing was said to be a lone attack but the police now claim that the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Abubakar Ringim, had met one of the perpetrators earlier that day, perhaps to recruit an informant. The man then joined the motor convoy to the headquarters and nearly succeeded in following Ringim's car in through the main security perimeter. But attendants directed the driver to an adjacent car park, where the vehicle exploded. If the driver had been able to follow Ringim's car into the central parking bay, the explosion would have killed many more people.